Elusive Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran may have had a narrow escape on Wednesday as Sri Lankan Air Force jets destroyed a key rebel base in Kilinochchi frequented by him.
The 53-year-old "LTTE chief could have been there just 15 minutes prior to the aerial bombardment by the Sri lankan Air force," the state-owned Independent Television Network reported.
The military, which has stepped up its offensive since the scrapping of the ceasefire early in January, targeted the 'X-ray base' base located East of Iranamadu Tank in the Kalmadukulama area.
Air Force spokesperson Wing Commander Andi Wijesoriya said the target has been a regular visiting place of Prabhakaran.
Fighter pilots have confirmed that the target was accurately hit, he added.
The air raid was timed with a 'special' activity that was going on at the LTTE base, a defence ministry statement said. It, however, did not say anything on the fate of Prabhakarn who suffered a series of setbacks in 2007.
The LTTE, however, has dismissed the Sri Lankan military's claims as 'false propaganda', while remaining mum on the fate of their elusive leader.
LTTE spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayal said the Sri Lanka Air Force had hit civilian targets in Iranamadu in Kilinochchi where the Tamil Tigers' air wing is located.
The LTTE's political wing chief S P Thamilselvan was killed in an air strike in November 2007 and weeks later, the military claimed Prabhakaran too was injured in an air force attack but the LTTE refuted the report.
Fighting between the Tamil Tigers and troops has intensified in the north after the government ended the 2002 Norwegian-brokered ceasefire with the rebels on January 16.